Thinking
Cognition
• Another term for thinking, knowing and
remembering
Does the
way we
think really
matter?
Maybe by studying the way we think, we
can eventually think better.
In order to think about the world, we form……..
Concepts
• A mental grouping
of similar objects,
events, ideas or
people.
• Concepts are
similar to Piaget’s
idea of….
Schemas
These animals all look different,
but they fall under our concept
of “dogs”.
We base our concepts on ….
Prototypes
• A mental image or
best example of a
category.
•If a new object is
similar to our
prototype, we are
better able to
recognize it.
If this was my prototype of a
man; then what are you?
How do we solve problems?
Trial and Error
Algorithms
• A methodical, logical
rule or procedure
that guarantees
solving a particular
problem.
What are the
benefits and
detriments of
algorithms?
Big Bang Theory
• The Friendship Algorithm
Heuristics
Who would you trust to
baby-sit your child?
• A rule-of-thumb
strategy that often
allows us to make
judgments and solve
problems efficiently.
•A short cut (that
can be prone to
errors).
Your answer is based on your heuristic
of their appearances.
Insight
• A sudden and often
novel realization of
the solution to a
problem.
• AHA! moment
•No real strategy
involved
Obstacles to problem solving
Confirmation Bias
• A tendency to
search for
information that
confirms one’s
preconceptions.
For example, if you believe that
during a full moon there is an
increase in admissions to the
emergency room where you work,
you will take notice of admissions
during a full moon, but be
inattentive to the moon when
admissions occur during other
nights of the month.
Match Problem
Can you arrange these six matches into four
equilateral triangles?
Match Problem
Fixation
• The inability to
see a problem
from a new
perspective.
Mental Set
• A tendency to approach a
problem in a particular way,
especially if it has worked in
the past.
• May or may not be a good thing.
Functional Fixedness
• The tendency
to think of
things only in
terms of their
usual functions.
What are some things I can do with
this quarter (other than spend it)?
Types of Heuristics
(That often lead to errors)
Representativeness Heuristic
• A rule of thumb for
judging the
likelihood of things
in terms of how well
they match our
prototype.
• Can cause us to
ignore important
information.
Below is Linda. She loves
books and hates loud
noises. Is Linda a librarian
or a beautician?
Chances are, she is a beautician!!!
Availability Heuristic
Although diseases kill many more
people than accidents, it has been
shown that people will judge
accidents and diseases to be
equally fatal. This is because
accidents are more dramatic and
are often written up in the paper or
seen on the news on t.v., and are
more available in memory than
diseases.
• Estimating the
likelihood of events
based on their
availability in our
memory.
•If it comes to mind
easily (maybe a vivid
event) we presume
it is common.
Overconfidence
• The tendency to
be more
confident than
correct.
• To overestimate
the accuracy of
your beliefs and
judgments.
Considering “overconfidence” who you
want to risk 1 million dollars on an
audience poll?
Framing
• The way an
issued is posed.
• It can have
drastic effects
on your
decisions and How do you think
framing will play a part
judgments.
in this years election?
Belief Bias
• The tendency for
one’s preexisting
beliefs to distort
logical reasoning.
2. Dictators are not
• Sometimes making
Democrats.
invalid conclusions
valid or vice
versa.
Conclusion: Dictators do
1. Democrats support
free speech
not support free speech.
Belief Perseverance
• Clinging to your
initial
conceptions
after the basis
on which they
were formed
has been
discredited.
• “the reason people
fight on campus”
Language and Thought
Its all about communication!!!
Language
• Our spoken
written or
gestured words
and the way we
combine them
to communicate
meaning.
Believe it or not, this
communication is a form
of language!!!
Phonemes
How many phonemes
does platypus have?
• In a spoken
language, the
smallest
distinctive sound
unit.
• Chug has three
phonemes, ch, u, g.
Morphemes
• In a language,
the smallest
unit that
carries meaning.
• Can be a word
or part of a
word (prefix or
suffix).
Grammar
• A system of
rules in a
language that
enables us to
communicate
and understand
others.
Semantics
• The set of rules
by which we
derive meaning in
a language.
• Adding ed at the
end of words
means past
tense.
The Chinese languages
do not have expansive
semantic rules. They
usually have totally
different symbols for
different tenses.
Syntax
• The rules for
combining words
into grammatically
sensible
sentences.
• In English,
Is this the White
adjectives come
House or the House
before nouns, but
White?
not in Spanish!!
Language development
• How many words do you think you
know now?
Probably around 80,000.
After age 1 you average about 13
words a day.
Language Development
• Babbling Stage: starting at 3-4 months, the
infant makes spontaneous sounds. Not
limited to the phonemes of the infant’s
household language.
•One-word stage: 1-2 years old, uses one
word to communicate big meanings.
•Two word stage: at age 2, uses two words
to communicate meanings- called
telegraphic speech.
Language Development
Holophrase:
A single word used to express
complex meanings
Ex: “Mama” can mean
“Come here, mama.”
“There goes mama.”
“You are my mama.”
Language Development
Ages 2 and 3:
• Sentences include missing words.
• Combine phrases and clauses into
complex sentences
• Overregularization: grammatical
rules (past tense and plurals)
• I goed, sitted, seed
Language Development
Third year:
Who, what, when, where, how questions
emerge
Age 4:
Asking questions, take turns talking,
lengthy conversations
Age 6:
10, 000 words
Age 7-9:
Words have more than one meaning
Genie
•Brain damaged: from abuse or
birth?
•Rapidly learning language–then
hit a wall.
•Could not determine if language
can be learned after puberty
because of brain damage.
Andrei
•Learned social norms.
•As of a few months ago: still
cannot speak.
How do we explain language
development?
Skinner
• Skinner thought
that we can
explain language
development
through social
learning theory
(which is?).
The young boy imitates his
dad, then gets a reward.
Chomsky
Inborn Universal Grammar
• We acquire language
too quickly for it to
be learned.
• We have this
“learning box” inside
our heads that
enable us to learn
any human language.
Does language influence
our thinking?
Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity
• The idea that
language
determines the way
we think (not vice
versa).
•The Hopi tribe has
no past tense in
their language, so
Whorf says they
rarely think of the
past.
Do people that speak more than one
language think differently depending
on their language at that time?
Thinking without Language
• We can think in words.
• But more often we think in mental
pictures.
In 1977, Reggie
Jackson hit 3 HR’s
against the
Dodgers. He has
stated that before
each at bat, he
visualizes crushing
a home run. Do you
think visualization
helps?
Do Animals think?
Kohler’s Chimpanzees
• Kohler
exhibited that
Chimps can
problem solve.
Honeybees seem to communicate
Apes and Signing
Thought
(proposition)
Sentence
Clauses
Phrases
Words (morphemes)
Sounds (phonemes)
Watch out a leopard is
sneaking up on our left
Watch out | a leopard is sneaking
up | on our left
Watch out | a leopard | is sneaking up | ...
Watch | out | a | ...
woch out a lep`erd iz snek`ing up on ou`er left